Some people appear willing to risk almost anything for the perfect selfie. Two tourists at Yellowstone National Park were filmed leaving an elevated boardwalk and walking across the thin, colorful crust surrounding Grand Prismatic Spring, one of the world’s most famous hot springs.
They took photos on unstable ground that could collapse without warning, plunging them into the dangerously hot water below.
Footage of the incident:
The reckless, irresponsible behavior, filmed over the weekend, angered park visitors. The women not only endangered themselves but may also have damaged the fragile microbial mats responsible for the spring’s vivid colors, which can take about a year to recover after being trampled.
Tanya Saueressig, a resident of Livingston, Montana, recorded the incident while visiting the park. She said she was already leaving the spring area when she turned around and noticed the two women walking far beyond the permitted path and posing for photographs on the microbial mats.
"I did this double take like, this can't be real ... yep, that's actually people out there," she told USA TODAY. Her disbelief quickly turned to concern. "I started getting scared for them because people have fallen into the thermal features."
The danger is well documented. Ground surrounding Yellowstone’s hot springs may appear solid, but in some places it is only a thin and fragile crust covering extremely hot water. Park officials repeatedly warn visitors to remain on boardwalks and marked trails and to stay away from thermal areas.
Michael Poland, scientist-in-charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, told NonStop Local that the ledges around some springs can be extremely thin and may collapse easily. Engineers and geologists use tools including thermal imaging to determine where it is safe to walk and where boardwalks can be constructed.
The danger has proved fatal before. According to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, more than 20 people have died over the years after entering or falling into thermal areas in the park.
Last year, a bison also died after the crust near Grand Prismatic Spring collapsed beneath it and the animal fell into the hot water.
Tourists walk along the designated boardwalk near Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park
(Photo: Lane V. Erickson / Shutterstock)
The two tourists were not only putting themselves at risk. The bright colors surrounding Grand Prismatic Spring are produced partly by communities of microorganisms that thrive at different temperatures. Walking on those microbial mats can damage them and leave visible marks for an extended period. Poland said it may take about a year for the bacteria to regrow in a trampled area.
Leaving designated paths in Yellowstone’s thermal areas is also illegal. Visitors who violate the rules may face fines, removal from the park or even prison. In 2024, a visitor from Washington state was sentenced to seven days in jail after entering a restricted area near Steamboat Geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin.
Saueressig said she struggled to understand how the women could disregard such an obvious danger. “You feel very helpless to do anything for them. You're so far away," she told NonStop Local. "And I just kept wondering, like, do you really not know how hot this water is? Do you not know people have died doing this?”
She said it was not the first time she had encountered irresponsible behavior at Yellowstone. During her many visits, she has seen people leave marked paths and even climb over barriers to take photographs.
"It just doesn't take much to be mindful. And I find it extremely selfish and disrespectful,” Saueressig told NonStop Local
The latest case was also not the first of its kind. According to the New York Post, a visitor was filmed last July walking across microbial mats in flip-flops to retrieve hats that had blown off the boardwalk.
Warning signs throughout Yellowstone repeatedly state that visitors must not leave designated routes, touch thermal areas or enter the water. Even clear warnings, however, do not always stop people searching for their next photograph.
The incident came shortly after another dramatic encounter at Yellowstone earlier this month.
An agitated bison chased a grandfather and his granddaughter near the Bridge Bay Campground before throwing the man into the air and seriously injuring him.
A professional photographer who was filming the chase stopped recording and ran toward the animal with other visitors, shouting and attempting to draw its attention away from the injured man lying on the ground.
Witnesses said the pair had not provoked the bison or approached it unusually closely. The animal’s aggressive behavior was believed to be connected to the bison mating season, which takes place during the summer months.